"(McGary) looked at me last night, right before we went to bed, and he said, 'Did you hear what he said about me?" said Glenn Robinson III, McGary's roommate. "'He said, 'I’m not excited about his height. I don’t think anything about his height. And I expect to dominate him.'

McGary finished with game highs of 25 points (on 12-of-17 shooting) and 14 rebounds to lift Michigan to a memorable 87-85 overtime win Friday against top-seeded Kansas. The Wolverines punched their ticket to the Elite Eight, where they'll face No. 3 seed Florida for a bid to the Final Four.

McGary was the best player on the floor for Michigan, as he has been for most of this remarkable tournament run. He has now turned in back-to-back double-doubles, and is averaging 19.7 points and 12.3 rebounds in the dance.

He's made a remarkable 28-of-37 shots, good for a 75.7-percent clip.

McGary was the best player overall for stretches Friday -- despite facing Withey, an All-American candidate. Safe to say he proved his mettle in this one.

"I wasn’t going to back down at all," McGary said. "It’s the NCAA tournament, and I don’t really care if he’s an All-American."

Point guard Trey Burke turned in the iconic moment, draining a 30-foot 3-pointer to complete a frenetic 10-point comeback and force overtime -- a classic play that will be replayed for years.

But there's little doubt the Wolverines wouldn't even have been in that position if not for McGary. While Burke was floundering in the first half, missing all four shots and committing three turnovers, McGary was leading the way with 11 points and five rebounds.

He made 5-of-7 shots (71.4 percent) in the first half. The rest of the team was 9-of-25 (36.0 percent).

And he did it against Withey, the bigger, stronger, better-hyped player prone to talking a little smack.

"We were all telling Mitch to take it personal," point guard Spike Albrecht said. "It fired him up. That was a mistake. Woke up a sleeping giant.

"He took care of business."

McGary now has turned in back-to-back double-doubles, the first Michigan player to do that in the tournament since Robert Traylor in 1998. It's the most impressive two-game stretch since Juwan Howard went for 34/18, 24/11 and 30/13 in a three-game stretch in 1994.

Not even forward Jordan Morgan, who tangles with McGary every day in practice, saw this coming.

"I can't even say I did, man," he said. "He's been playing incredible, and that just speaks to all the work he's put in all year. He's invested a lot in himself and this team -- and it's paying off right now."

The potential for McGary to do this kind of damage has always been there -- it's what made him one of the country's most sought recruits last year. But he was out of shape when he reported to campus, and it took him time to get his weight in order and refine his game.

But he started to show bursts throughout the Big Ten season, and his minutes climbed by the Big Ten tournament. He finally supplanted Morgan in the lineup for the start of the tournament.

And now McGary is coming of age, just as the country discovers him.

He said he hopes his performance against Withey silences his doubters, and shows he's one of the country's best big men, even if it took him time to get there.

"There’s a lot of critics out there," he said. "They say I have a football player’s mentality. I would think that would be a coach’s dream, for a guy who dives on the floor, goes and grabs loose rebounds, sets screens and finishes around the basket. But a lot of critics say I’m a basketball player in a football player’s body.